MI 5th Graders Raising Money for LLS Cure

Leukemia and Lymphoma are personal in Mason City Schools. While there are many Mason student and staff warriors fighting these diseases, there are also many Comets committed to finding a cure.

Recently, the 500 Wing at Mason Intermediate came to support fundraising efforts for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. A penny war between each homeroom in the wing was held October 3-7, and culminated with a team-wide Friday Freetime celebration. The donation, which totaled $1,962.74, was sent to the LLS Light the Night Walk on October 13.

"We’ve recently learned that our team's fifth grade gifted teacher, Lynne Hutchinson, has been diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia. Also, Liz Fiehrer, our fifth grade reading teacher, is a leukemia cancer survivor. Plus we have students in our wing who are currently battling this terrible disease as well," said MI fifth grade Language Arts and Science teacher Cheri Hawkins.

Each homeroom teacher in the 500 Wing had a container in which students added coins, cash, and check donations to help this worthy cause. The kids’ pennies and check donations (checks made out to Leukemia and Lymphoma Society) counted as positive points for that teacher; silver coins and dollars were negative points for that teacher! The teacher with the most NEGATIVE points was fifth grade math and science teacher Nick Washington, who was taped to the wall on October 7!

"We communicated with parents to encourage children to empty their penny banks and donate to a worthy cause so our fifth graders could make a difference in the lives of our teachers, classmates and all of our loved ones affected by cancer," shared Hawkins.